Landlord Uses "Psychic Credit Checks" On Potential Tenants

Maybe you weren’t worried when you heard that Experian was adding rental payments to its credit reports because you’ve always paid your landlord on time. But now it’s time to look deep within your psyche and soul to ask yourself if you’d pass a psychic credit check.

Back in May we told you about home buyers and sellers looking to the supernatural world for guidance.

Now a landlord in Brooklyn tells the NY Times he occasionally uses a freelance psychic/superintendent (imagine Miss Cleo meets Schneider from One Day At A Time) to vet potential tenants he worries might be risky to his bottom line.

“I’ve never had a problem with anyone she’s checked into,” says the landlord. “I don’t know what part is psychic, what part is luck and what part is interpersonal skill. But I know she’s effective.”

The psychic in question admits to the Times that “anyone can tell if someone’s crazy,” but her decisions are based on “more than just a hunch about somebody… It’s a physical reaction you get, where you can almost see what’s going to happen once they move in.”

She says that, of the 60 to 70 people she’s performed the psychic credit check on, she’s only been wrong twice.

“If anybody’s psychic, she is,” a tenant in one of her building says. “She’s always predicting when things go wrong in our apartment… last year, when our sink busted, we didn’t tell anybody — but within a week she’d installed a brand-new sink.”

When her psychic powers are not able to make a definitive decision on a tenant, she says she calls in a pal who knows a thing or two about astrology.

“We call ourselves the psychic credit chicks,” she said.

The landlord who employs the psychic chalks up part of her success to the power of suggestion. “If you don’t have credit and somebody gives you a positive evaluation,” he said, “you’re more likely to pay rent on time to prove that person right. That, and you don’t want to disappoint a psychic. She might put a hex on you.”

Bad Credit, but Good Vibes [NY Times]

Thanks to Howard for the tip!

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